Not everyone pleased with bus route move

Changes to a Fylde coast bus service have led to mixed reactions from regular passengers in Fleetwood.

There is good news for Fleetwood folk who need to travel to Preston, as a bus link between the port and the city is to be restored next month, via the number 74 and 75 routes.

But there is concern for some elderly passengers because part of the route which served areas around Hatfield Avenue are being taken out.

Elderly folk who have come to rely on the bus arriving close to their homes are so unhappy with the changes, to be brought in from the first week of September, they are planning a petition.

Fleetwood campaigner Angela Patchett, who has organised similar campaigns in the past, said: “It is good that there is now a Fleetwood bus link to Preston, but why have they removed some of stops in Fleetwood? A couple of ladies have contacted me about it I am looking into it.”

Pensioner Anne Elms, of Hatfield Avenue, said: “It’s good they are using joined-up thinking to link up with Preston and but the trouble is that the elderly people there who can’t walk very well will miss out.”

Fleetwood resident Bill Cook, 71, of Beach Road, Fleetwood, said: “I think it is a good move to link up with the Preston bus at Poulton.”

The changes see travel firm Preston Bus tying together two existing routes, restoring a service which was axed during April’s Lancashire wide bus cuts.

The 74 service, linking Fleetwood to Blackpool via Poulton and Victoria hospital, will now allow passengers to disembark at Poulton and catch the 75 to Preston.

But in Fleetwood the 74 will miss out stops around Highbury Avenue, Hatfield Avenue and Whinfield Avenue.

A spokesman for transport authority, Lancashire County Council, said: “There was a high demand to restore the direct link from Fleetwood to Preston, particularly for people who live in Fleetwood and work or go to college in Preston and were having to wait in Poulton for 50 minutes for a connection.

“But in order to accommodate this within existing resources, without incurring extra cost, it was decided to take out stops at Highbury Avenue and Whinfield Avenue due to low demand.”